It has long been the goal of vendors, such as department stores, restaurants and various content providers, to accurately predict the desires and habits of consumers. In order to learn more about consumers, vendors often compile massive quantities of data concerning consumers. The compiled data can originate from a variety of sources and can cover a variety of topics. Some vendors may use the demographic data of a geographical area. Others may track the purchases of a specific consumer to glean information about that consumer, or consumers generally. Some vendors compile data to generate consumer profiles, and the vendors attempt to use these profiles to predict the habits and desires of consumers.
Unfortunately, conventional data gathering mechanisms and the associated consumer profiles cannot accurately predict a consumer's present desires and habits because these consumer attributes are dynamic, given a time and a setting. In some instances, for example, where a vendor has a Very Important Person (VIP) classification for repeat consumers, conventional mechanisms may be satisfactory mechanisms to profile the consumer because history is available for the specific consumer. However, it is more frequent that consumers are not repeat customers, but rather are short-term, transient type consumers which must be profiled in real-time in order to achieve a useable level of accuracy. Attempts have been made to use the purchase history of other consumers to predict the desires of another consumer. However, these mechanisms are inapplicable where no history exists. Even when history does exist, the mechanisms still do not effectively predict consumer desires. As a result, losses in sales and inferior consumer experiences can occur.
For example, consider a consumer that enters a shopping mall. At the time of entry, the consumer may have a product or service in mind. However, conventional mechanisms are unable to predict the real-time desires of the consumer. As such, vendors will be unaware of the consumer's desire for a product or service, and the consumer may be unaware of the vendors that can provide the product or service. If the vendors were aware of the consumer and the consumer's desires, the vendors may find ways to cater to the desires of the consumer, benefiting both the vendors and the consumer. Additionally, using conventional mechanisms, vendors have no means of identifying a consumer's actual interest level in a particular product or service. If a vendor was aware of a consumer's interest level, the vendor may expend efforts efficiently on only those consumers with an appropriate interest level, and not expend efforts on uninterested consumers.
The negative attributes of conventional mechanisms can come as a result of not incorporating information regarding a consumer's physical actions prior to obtaining a desired product or service. Prior actions can include how a consumer navigates through information, such as advertising information, and how the consumer physically moves though stores or shops. These consumer actions can provide important information about a consumer's desires and habits. The actions can reveal a consumer's level of interest in a particular product or service and thus identify a target consumer to a particular store or shop. If a consumer repeatedly visits a particular vendor before moving to other vendors, the actions of the consumer can be indicative of brand loyalty. Further, when aggregated across many consumers, the actions prior to obtaining a product or service, can be indicative of inferior or superior advertising or market power.
Accordingly, a need exists for a mechanism that can develop an accurate and current profile of a consumer or user. In particular, a need exists for a mechanism that can incorporate the actions of a user prior to obtaining a product or service.